Race Offers Guaranteed Entry to Marine Corps Marathon

Here are two compelling reasons to consider the Marine Corps 17.75K, scheduled for April 12 in Prince William County, Virginia: You'll almost certainly set an 11.029339-mile PR, and you'll be guaranteed entry to October's Marine Corps Marathon.

Finishers of the 17.75K will get a "guaranteed access" card that will ensure a spot in the marathon, scheduled for October 26, if they register for the marathon by April 14.

The race's name and unusual distance refer to 1775, the year the Marine Corps was founded. The race's field will be capped at 1,775 registrants. Registration opens on February 19.

The arrangement is believed to be the first instance of an organization offering guaranteed entry to its marquee event to finishers of one of its other races.

The Marine Corps Marathon will handle registration through a lottery for the first time this year. Runners can sign up to be in the lottery pool between February 23 and March 15. Applicants will learn their registration status on March 19.

In recent years, the marathon used a first-come, first-served online registration system that resulted in the field filling in less time every year. Last year's registration was marred by technical problems when the servers of the registration company the marathon was using, Active.com, were overwhelmed by demand. Active and the marathon later apologized for the registration snafu. In October, the marathon announced that it was switching to a lottery, which will be administered by Race IT, a Virginia-based company.

Last year's Marine Corps Marathon had 23,481 finishers, just under the event record of 23,519 set in 2012.

Scott DouglasScott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times.

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